Keystone XL Pipeline

The Keystone XL Pipeline is a proposed expansion of the operational Keystone Pipeline, to transport crude oil from the Athabasca Tar Sands in northeastern Alberta, Canada to refineries in Illinois and Oklahoma, and further to the U.S. Gulf Coast.

Project Summary

 * Company: TransCanada
 * Construction: Aiming to complete construction by end of 2012.
 * Cost: $12.2 Billion
 * Size: 36-inch underground pipeline
 * Capacity: 750,000 bpd

Permitting Status

 * TransCanada officials are surveying Montana land and talking to landowners.
 * Montana refineries already have their supplies contracted
 * The application to FERC for what is called an "open season" permit should occur in fall 2008.

Project Description
The proposed Keystone Gulf Coast Expansion Project (Keystone XL) is complementary to the Keystone Pipeline and would serve existing refineries and markets on the U.S. Gulf Coast in Texas.

Route
Approximately 1,690 miles (2,720 kilometres) of new pipeline construction is proposed as follows:
 * The section extending from Cushing, Oklahoma to Port Arthur, Texas is approximately 478 miles (769 km) in length and would also include an approximate 50-mile (80-km) pipeline from Liberty County, Texas to Houston, Texas.
 * The section from Hardisty south to Steele City, Nebraska includes the following Canadian and U.S. segments:
 * The Canadian portion from Hardisty, Alberta to Monchy, Saskatchewan, on the Canadian border, is approximately 327 miles (527 km).
 * The U.S. portion starts at Morgan on the Montana border and extends southeast through South Dakota and Nebraska to Steele City for approximately 836 miles (1,345 km). At Steele City, the pipeline connects to the 296-mile (477-km) long, 36-inch extension currently planned as part of the Keystone Pipeline.
 * Alternative terminal and delivery points are being considered as part of the project’s development.

Financing
Citigroup Global Markets Inc., Greenwich Capital Markets, Inc., J.P. Morgan Securities Inc., Banc of America Securities LLC and Barclays Capital Inc. are the largest underwriters in what appears to be the underwriting of construction of the Keystone Pipeline for ConocoPhillips of up to $400 million.

TransCanada Pipeline USA Ltd on March 29, 2007 completed a $1,000,000,000 loan from Citibank. 

Tar sands and Koch Industries
A February 2010 SolveClimate News analysis, based on publicly available records, found that Koch Industries is responsible for close to 25 percent of the oil tar sands crude that is imported into the United States, and is positioned to benefit from Keystone. A Koch Industries operation in Calgary, Alberta, called Flint Hills Resources Canada LP, supplies about 250,000 barrels of tar sands oil a day to an oil refinery in Minnesota, also owned by the Koch brothers. Flint Hills Resources Canada also operates a crude oil terminal in Hardisty, Alberta, the starting point of the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline. The company's website says it is "among Canada's largest crude oil purchasers, shippers and exporters." Koch Industries also owns Koch Exploration Canada, L.P., an oil sands-focused exploration company also based in Calgary that acquires, develops and trades petroleum properties.

Public opposition
About 750 U.S. landowners that would be affected by the project - who live along the proposed pipeline route through Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas - have refused to allow the company, TransCanada Corp, on their land. Locals in east Texas accuse TransCanada's agents of threatening them with compulsory purchase and of dismissing their concerns about safety in case of a pipeline leak. The pipeline crosses one of the world's largest aquifers in Nebraska, which provides drinking water to eight states and irrigates about a third of the farmland in the midwest, and will also cross many lakes in Texas. Those opposed to the project will go to Washington D.C. on March 9, 2011, when the state department is due to decide whether to grant final approval for the pipeline, setting the stage for court battles over compulsory purchase and eminent domain. If the State Dept. orders additional environmental or safety reviews, it would force a delay in the construction start date, now set for the end of 2011.